Stay in the know.

Any other time of year, you’d be spending a lot of time organizing a family trip out of town. At the holidays, however, the travel part can be an afterthought.

I put together some of my favorite travel tips to make things easier this year so you can have more jolly and less worry.

1. Time Timer ® Watch Plus: No sense burying the lead here. The Watch Plus is the answer to your “Are we there yet” misery. Use the timer function and plug in how much time is left in the trip (add a 10-minute cushion), and hand over your watch. Even though I work for Time Timer, I only recently thought of this one. Sure, the Time Timer is on the tablet and phone, but kids might switch those, and I’m certainly not giving up my phone on the trip. (I’m not driving!) I give it to my impatient child, and voila! It was amazing. He felt in total control of the time remaining on the trip.